The "hot button" issue of the competing rights for gays, transgenders, religious libertis, states rights and others moved up a notch on Friday when the Obama administration issued what its opponents call an overreaching directive involving transgenders use of bathrooms in public schools and universities.

The controversy has taken a local turn as the State Attorney General Jeff Landry annd others have opined against the Obama administration and a resolution is beinng debated in the Louisiana Senate.

Below is an email sent to Bayoubuzz by Dale Clary, the Louisiana Media Liason for the Convention of States which opposes the Obama action. Below that is a segment of a column from an LSU student:

The Convention of States resolution in Louisiana (Senate Concurrent Resolution 52 or SCR 52) will be heard in the House Governmental Affairs committee this Wednesday, May 18, starting at 10:00 am. The Agenda is here.

A commentary from the Daily Signal (by the Heritage Foundation) reports this morning on new federal regulations issued Friday to control the practice of medicine. Last week Washington DC told the schools how to control bathrooms. Now the focus turns to physicians. The commentary can be found here.

Excerpts from the commentary are below, but there is a Constitutionally-recognized solution to rein in a runaway federal government: An Article V convention of states limited to proposing amendments to the Constitution that impose fiscal restraints on the federal government, limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government, and limit the terms of office for its officials and for members of Congress. For more information, see http://www.conventionofstates.com/

As Roger Severino and I explain in a Heritage Foundation report, these regulations will create serious conflicts of conscience for many organizations, hospitals, physicians, and other individuals involved in healthcare.

The regulations create special privileges based on gender identity that will lead to unreasonable and costly litigation for physicians, hospitals, insurers, and others involved in health care. They will effectively require controversial procedures, such as “sex-reassignment” surgery, that respected medical professionals argue have not been proven to be effective in treating serious mental health conditions. Rather than respect the diversity of opinions on sensitive and controversial health care issues, the proposed regulations endorse and enforce one view.

Dale Clary

Louisiana Media Liaison

Johnson denigrates transgender children to aid personal ambitions

This past Friday, 32 state legislators sent a letter to Attorney General Jeff Landry seeking his opinion on the Department of Justice and Department of Education’s directive clarifying that transgender students are protected from discrimination in schools under federal law.

The directive argues when schools receive federal funds, they agree not to “exclude, separate, deny benefits to, or otherwise treat differently on the basis of sex any person in its educational programs or activities unless expressly authorized to do so under Title IX or its implementing regulations.”

Therefore, schools choosing to discriminate against transgender students do so at their own risk. For Louisiana, this risk includes at least $2 billion the state is expected to receive in funding through the end of the fiscal year. This number could be higher because it does not include competitive grants the state receives from the Department of Education.

Adding insult to injury, these 32 state legislators are willing to jeopardize this federal funding on top of our state’s $600 million deficit.